Facebook Urges Users to Connect with the Other Side

Posted 07/19/2010 at 6:40am | by Paul Lilly

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Facebook can't really communicate with the dead -- not until someone comes up with an app, anyway (if they haven't already) -- but it's no less eerie when the social networking site urges you go reconnect with a friend who has passed on. As it turns out, this happens more often than you would think.

"It's a very sensitive topic, and of course, seeing deceased friends pop up can be painful," said Meredith Chin, a company spokeswoman. Considering how large Facebook has grown "and people passing away every day, we're never going to be perfect at catching it," she added.

The challenge isn't going to get any easier for Facebook. In May alone, some 6.5 million people over the age of 65 signed up for the social networking site, a three-fold increase over May 2009, according to comScore. To put it delicately, people over 65 have a higher mortality rate than the twenty-somethings that dominated Facebook when the service first got off the ground.

It's a tricky situation for Facebook, which not only relies on computers to report when a user has passed away, but other members as well. Members have the option of memorializing a profile, an option which isn't well publicized and involves filling out a form on the site and providing proof of death (link to an obituary or news article).

One idea Facebook is considering is using software to look for repeated postings of certain phrases, like "Rest in peace."

"We are testing ways to implement software to address this," Chin added. "But we can't get it wrong. We have to do it correctly."

More here.